The "Don't Eat Like a Polack" Diet

Had a lovely visit with my parents yesterday, and sent them on their way West after breakfast this morning. My mom and I got to talking a bit about dieting this morning, and I told her I've been thinking about all the different kinds of diets out there and how I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next about my weight and general health. She mentioned Jenny Craig and WW, and I explained why I would never do MF again, but then I talked a little bit about all the other types of non-commercial diets, like all the variations on eating low-carb or low-fat or low-protein, and how I don't really want to do any of those. I just want to eat healthier foods. She shared that her doctor had said that if she just ate 5 vegetable servings a day, she would lose weight. We both knew what he meant: if she would supplant some of the other starches and meats she put on her plate with vegetables, she would eat fewer calories, healthier foods, it would help her cholesterol, and yes she would lose weight.

In other words, we need to stop eating like Polacks.

My husband and I both come from Polish families, and the traditions not just at holidays but all the time run very deep. A typical Easter dinner at my mother-in-law's consists of: two types of kielbasa (sausage), a ham, cheesy mashed potatoes, 3 kinds of pierogis (potato, cheese and sometimes sauerkraut), dinner rolls, and if she remembers, either iceburg lettuce and French dressing in a side bowl, or a microwaved bag of frozen mixed vegetables. For those of you counting at home, that is 3 meats, 3 starches, and one lone nutrient-free vegetable.

That was typical for my childhood; vegetables were always on the table, but they were often boiled to death. A favorite dinner of ours was spaghetti and meatballs, and the best part of the meal (besides the pounds of angel hair pasta) was the buttery garlic bread my mother would make in the oven. It was the only time she ever used the broiler, to my knowledge. (I am still not sure how to use mine.) We rarely had any room in our bellies to finish the iceburg and French dressing salads on the side, and we rarely got in trouble for not finishing them.

The other takeaway memory of cooking from my childhood was that my mother hated cooking. She worked a fulltime job and often had a whole second volunteering for one organization or another, and would come home frazzled and tired and would throw a bunch of pots on the stove at once. I was never taught that cooking could be interesting or fun; it was always a dreaded chore. Or she cooked for parties, but again that was for everyone else and just one of many tasks needed to be completed to get ready for the guests.

But something funny happened along the way, and it took me until this morning to realize it. My mother changed. She's been talking about the different foods she and my dad cook for a while, but I haven't been listening. I've been too stuck in my ideas of the past, not seeing that just like I have re-invented myself, so has my mother.



She brought these as a gift this weekend. It isn't the first time she's given me homemade jams, but it's the first time I've really seen them for what they are. My mother, the woman who never met a carrot stick she couldn't boil to mush or drown in spinach dip on a crudite platter, makes her own jams and relishes. I confess, I am a little afraid to taste them because she still isn't the greatest cook LOL, but I am going to give them a try. Because they are proof that we are not bound to our genetics forever, and we are all capable of change.

Taking that idea further, that's the way I want to eat better now; I want to learn how to throw off the years of tradition, biology, and family bonding, and stop eating like a Polack. I am taking all the best ideas from Weight Watchers and the Core plan, the excellent tips from Mark Bittman's Food Matters, from the Abs Diet book I got from Helen this spring, and even from Medifast, and making up some rules of eating/dieting I am going to follow:

1. I can only have more than one protein (meat, cheese, fish, eggs, peanut butter, etc) on my plate once per day. The other meals I must limit it to one protein.
2. No more than one starch on my plate per meal. (Does not include starchy vegetables. Starches for this current definition are: whole grains, potatoes, breads, rices.)
3. Vegetables are not an afterthought. For at least one meal a day and preferably two, they should be more than half my plate.
4. The phrases "swimming in butter" or "cooked in bacon fat or lard" cannot describe how my foods are prepared.
5. Eat at least 5 servings of vegetables/fruits a day.

That's it. For right now, I'm not going to worry about counting calories or points, or restricting alcohol, sweets or anything else. I am just going to change the focus of what proportions and types of foods I eat. I have to get that down and into a habit first, then I will work on the rest.

That's my Don't Eat Like a Polack diet. I have to admit, I am looking forward to it!

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Putting this into action, however, is going to be a challenge. I have plans after work with friends every night this week until Thursday, so I am focusing right now while I am excited and enthusiastic on my breakfasts and lunches.



Here's my haul from the farmer's market today. A grocery store trip is also on the books for this afternoon, then I've prepped my iPod for a couple of hours of fun in the kitchen. I put together some recipes from Bittman's book that I want to try, so for the week we will be eating:

-ground bison meatloaf (a meat-and-grain loaf recipe from Bittman) tonight, perfect for sandwiches for a few days
-chopped cabbage salad (Bittman)
-homemade applesauce (can't eat raw apples but I love applesauce!)
-sliced carrots and red pepper strips
-almonds, yogurt and fruit for snacks
-peanut-butter toast and canteloupe or watermelon for breakfast
-something with that corn; maybe a carrot and corn veggie pancake (also from Bittman's book)

If the recipes turn out well, I will post them with pictures. :)